“I should remember I don’t want to become fat”: Adolescents’ views on self-regulatory strategies for healthy eating

Few studies have investigated the strategies adolescents identify to self-regulate eating behavior. Aiming to address this gap in the literature, the current article describes a bottom-up investigation of strategies adolescents identify for the successful self-regulation of eating behavior. Sixty-two adolescents generated statements about self-regulation strategies for eating and rated the utility of each statement. From an initial pool of 357 statements, thirteen overarching self-regulatory strategies were distilled (e.g. preparation; stimulus control). Significant differences were found between the strategies with regard to perceived utility. Findings indicate that, in apparent contradiction to growing obesity rates, adolescents have knowledge of various self-regulatory strategies. Possible explanations for this contradiction are discussed.